Over-Dramatic Reading

Choose any written material (a song, poem, short book, excerpt from a novel, scene from a television show, news article, etc.) and record a dramatic reading. Read your selection in a way that alters the message of the original material (at an odd pace, overly excited, sad, etc. — be creative, make it your own). Make sure you mention what it is you are reading, and who the author of the material is.

The Original

That’s right.  I tackled the master himself.  The spongey yellow rectangle of comedic goodness.

With some extra-special help from the hubby once again, we bring you: THE Best. Day. Ever. ;D

This assignment was worth 2 Stars, and way more laughs than could ever be captured or fully appreciated here.

Jingle Jangle

Write a jingle about a product that you like and then use your imagination. Extra points if you use an instrument.

Rice and Beans

So for our radio show, my group and I created a world in post-zombie-apocalypse. You should seriously check it out. But that’s a separate post.

When I stumbled across this assignment, I had the idea of trying to create something I could make a commercial for that wouldn’t infringe on any existing copyrights. I started to think about something ridiculous that might get capitalized on in a post-apocalypse world, if that was even possible. I decided that if someone made a product that combined two basic staples that are usually eaten together anyway, and made them quick and easy to prepare, it would sell like hotcakes.

So that’s the premise behind this. Major props to my hubby for helping me out on the guitar.

We didn’t end up needing my commercial, but I was already planning on using this for some of my audio assignment points for the week anyway, so here it is.   Enjoy?

This assignment was worth 3 Stars.

I can’t believe we actually did this.

May I Take Your Order?

Using your best accent (whether it be Australian, British or southern, etc), pretend you are at McDonald’s and order something off of their menu. Be picky! For example, a coke with no ice.

*shudder*

Yup. I pretty much sucked at this.  I HATE listening to my own voice.  Have I mentioned that before?  And the only accent I can do at all decently is country.  Cuz…well…I’m country.  (Except that I sound nothing like this)

I went to Mcdonald’s website and started browsing their menu to get ideas.  As I scrolled over some of the items, I stumbled on this nifty little button called the Meal Builder.

Heck. Yes.

Who in the world PLANS their McDonald’s meal.  Isn’t the whole point that you’re in a hurry? Surely you wouldn’t CHOOSE McDonald’s, and consciously go there because, dangit, you EARNED that nasty slimy beef crud, right??

Inspired, I built the nastiest, most hypocritical order I could imagine.  It’s designed to sound as though it’s for a van full of over-grown adults.  But when I ask my honey what he wants in the end, we discover that all that awesomeness was for me, and me alone.

Enjoy.

This assignment was worth 2 Stars

For this Audio Assignment I chose to do a scene from a Broadway play my high school drama teacher introduced me to called In the Heights. I chose to do the scene when Nina is coming home and trying to figure out how to explain to her parents that she lost her scholarship to college. I recorded myself on SoundCloud while I performed this scene.

Imitate Some Weather

Using only your voice and things within arm’s reach of your computer, imitate some kind of weather. It doesn’t have to be long, but make it sound as real as possible.

I blame the suck of this on the limitations within the instructions on the project.  It hurts me to post it.  But here it is.

My fleece sweater was on the arm of the chair next to me, and a cheap plastic controller (that goes to God-knows-what) was the only other thing in arm’s reach.  I had the idea to rustle the fleece slightly in my left arm while my left hand held the phone (so I was kinda rubbing the fleece itself on the iPhone mic), and then gradually start tapping the controller on the stone coffee table top.  And this is what you get.  I felt that it sounded like wind and then gradually intensifying hail.

You’re totally allowed to hate it.  It was fun to make, though.

This assignment was worth 1 star.  For obvious reasons.  It was the last one that came up in my rotation.  I only needed one more star at that point, so I just kept clicking the random assignment button until it gave me a 1-star option.

Make ‘em Laugh!

Find a good, brief joke in a language other than your mother tongue; if you don’t know any other languages this might be a good way to start learning. Record your voice telling the joke focusing on pronunciation and try to make it sound as natural as you can with appropriate vocal inflections. Add a (cc) music track underneath (maybe from jamendo.com) and a laugh track (soungle.com is a good source) at the end.

Here we go!

Okay, okay, I admit, I didn’t put a music track underneath.  But I have reasons.

First, though, credit, where credit is due.  I got the joke from here, and the Outdoor Spanish Party background here.   I also found the laugh at the suggested site.  I’ve been approaching these assignments like I approach recipes – I’ll do my best to stick to the instructions as closely as possible the first time, so I can judge it properly on its own merits.  I’ll make it my own next time.

Admittedly, though, I didn’t completely do that this time.  The thing is, I got this story in my head of me being at this party with a bunch of Spanish-speakers, and feeling really awkward-like and such, until finally, I decide to tell my ridiculously stupid joke and laugh obnoxiously at my own stupidity.  So I tried to create that effect, including the delay between the joke and the crowd laugh.  I also tried to make the background noises of the party relatively loud, in order to give the impression that I’m right in the middle of the party, but made sure my voice was loudest, in order to establish the fact that I’m the one talking.

This assignment is worth 2 Stars.

Also, translation for those of you who are not Spanish-speakers by birth or schooling.  What did one fish say to the other fish?  The response ‘Nada’ means both ‘nothing’ and ‘swim’ at the same time.  So it’s a play on words.

…GET IT?!?! ;D

For this Audio Assignment I recorded myself reading Cat in Hat on SoundCloud. Since I didn’t have my original Cat in the Hat book with me I had to read the a copy of it off of Google Books. An since I used Google Books it would only let me preview the first half of the book. I choose to use this book because it was my favorite out of all the Dr. Suess books.

Here is a little Jingle I made about a cream that would work for EVERY problem! Literally!

For this assignment I first wrote out a little jingle about this imaginary cream that could basically be used to cure/fix any problem. I then recorded myself singing my Jingle on SoundCloud and uploaded it on my profile.